Plastic doily centerpiece construction



Aug. 25, 1964 R. R. CIPROTTI PLASTIC some CENTERPIECE CONSTRUCTION FiledJune 6, 1961 2s 24 FIGS INVE NTOR RAYMOND R. GIPROTTI ATTORNEY tllnitedStates Patent uns, r

3,146,154 PLASTIC DOILY CENTERPIECE CONSTRUCTION Raymond R. Ciprotti,Leominster, Mass., assignor to Plasticraft of Leominster, Inc.,Leominster, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed June 6, 1961,Ser. No. 115,259 3 Claims. (Cl. 16137) This invention relates to a newand improved doily centerpiece comprising a novel arrangement forassembling a plurality of lacy molded plastic doilies such as appear inapplications Serial No. D. 59,269, filed February 4, 1960, and SerialNo. D. 59,270, filed February 4, 1960; and the principal object of theinvention resides in the provision of such a centerpiece or otherattractive display comprising a relatively large plastic doily used as abase or flat mat in combination with a plurality of smaller doilies orthe like which are folded in a certain manner and temporarily attachedabout the periphery of the mat or base doily in such a Way as to providean annular centerpiece which has the central portion of the mat or basedoily clear as a center surrounded by an annular wall of upstandingfolded doilies of smaller size; and the provision of a new and improvedfastener or clip for this purpose by which means the doilies areassembled and held in position in the particular manner to be describedmore fully hereinafter.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 isa perspective view which illustrates the base or mat doily together withone attached smaller doily therefor;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a fastener clip on a larger scale;

FIG. 3 is an edge view of the fastener of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate the folds in the doily to be applied; and

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the application of a smalldoily to a portion of the large doily.

In carrying out this invention, the same consists in general of arelatively large plastic doily which is generally indicated by thereference character 10 in FIG. 1 and there are a series of possibly tento twenty smaller doilies which are to be folded and attachedperipherally with respect to the doily 10 in the manner to be describedin the invention. In FIG. 1 there is shown one of these doilies soattached but it is to be understood that the smaller doily which isattached to the base doily 10 and is indicated at 12 is to form anannular ring completely around the base doily 10, leaving a relativelylarge portion thereof in the center unimpeded for the applicationthereto of flower holders, ornamental centerpiece designs, etc., theannularly arranged doily combination of the present invention forming akind of three-dimensional border therefor.

Both doilies 10 and 12 per se very closely resemble real or factualtextile doilies but in fact are molded of plastic material and comprisemainly a great deal of openings any one of which can be selected tocarry out the fastening of the smaller doilies to the larger main basedoily as will be described.

The fastener clip is illustrated herein in FIGS. 2 and 3 and compirses arelatively small flat elongated plastic member indicated at 14 having ahole 16 at one end and a cooperating snap fastener head 18 at theopposite end. This member is shown in FIG. 1 and the relative sizes ofthis fastening clip with respect to the two doilies is thereforeapparent.

In order to make the plastic doily centerpiece of the present invention,a small doily which is indicated in FIGS. 4 and 5 as at 20, and which isshown folded centrally, is folded again centrally so that it is afour-layer quarter size doily as indicated at 22 in FIG. 5. With thedoily as folded in FIG. 5 held rather tightly by the fingers so that theinherent resilience of the plastic material will not cause it to open upand go back to its original flat shape, the clip 14 is inserted througha selected opening or openings in the lace as indicated at 24 as perhapsbest seen in FIG. 6. This clip 14 may be inserted in any opening but ithas been found that it is better to use one which is a short distancefrom the center or corner 26 of the folded doily.

With the clip in this position as shown in FIG. 6, it is then extendedthrough selected holes of the main base doily of FIG. 1 and it has beenfound that it is best to use for instance the holes at 28 and 30 whichappear at the base of triangles $2 in the base main doily of FIG. 1. Itwill be seen that this has been done with respect to the folded doily 12shown in FIG. 1 which is secured to the main base doily 10 by means ofthe strip or clip 14.

This action is repeated until the entire circumference of the main orbase doily 10 is completely surrounded by such folded and clipped ondoilies 12, and thus a beautiful centerpiece arrangement is quickly andeasily provided very inexpensively, the same forming a frame for flowerholders and ornamental centerpieces of all kinds.

Since the main doily and the other doilies are provided in differentsizes and shapes, different kinds of centerpieces are easily made by theuser of this invention.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do notwish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than asset forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. A doily centerpiece comprising a fiat base doily of relatively largediameter, said doily being provided with apertures adjacent theperiphery thereof, a series of relatively smaller doilies folded onthemselves at the center portions thereof, and a clip for each doily,said clip being flexible and passing through the folds of the smallerdoily and through a pair of spaced folds near the periphery of the fiatbase doily, holding the folded smaller doilies thereto at the peripheryof the flat base doily, each elongated clip having an aperture at oneend thereof and an enlarged head at the opposite end thereof, the headbeing of a size to snap into the aperture in the clip providing matingsnap fastening means at the respective ends of the clips to form acontinuous loop of each clip to hold its respective smaller doily to theflat base doily.

2. A doily centerpiece as set forth in claim 1 wherein the main portionof the smaller doily extends outwardly radially with respect to theperipheral edge or circumference of the main base doily.

3. A doily centerpiece as set forth in claim 1 including a plurality ofthe smaller folded doilies attached to the main base doily around therim thereof and extending radially outwardly therefrom, and a strip orclip connecting each said smaller folded doily to the base doilyadjacent the periphery thereof.

(References on following page) 3,146,154 3 References Cited in the fileof this patent 2,966,759

UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 180,165 Tupper Apr. 23, 1957 909,337 RipperJan. 12, 1909 5 867,116 1,282,468 Scheel Oct. 22, 1918 2,326,693 SindlerAug. 10, 1943 2,896,889 Hershberger et a1. July 28, 1959 2,966,437 Louiet a1. Dec. 27, 1960 4 Robertson Jan. 3, 1961 3- FOREIGN PATENTS GreatBritain May 3, 1961 OTHER REFERENCES Lacecraft Fashions Publication,Columbus Products, Inc., Columbus, Ohio.

1. A DOILY CENTERPIECE COMPRISING A FLAT BASE DOILY OF RELATIVELY LARGEDIAMETER, SAID DOILY BEING PROVIDED WITH APERTURES ADJACENT THEPERIPHERY THEREOF, A SERIES OF RELATIVELY SMALLER DOILIES FOLDED ONTHEMSELVES AT THE CENTER PORTIONS THEREOF, AND A CLIP FOR EACH DOILY,SAID CLIP BEING FLEXIBLE AND PASSING THROUGH THE FOLDS OF THE SMALLERDOILY AND THROUGH A PAIR OF SPACED FOLDS NEAR THE PERIPHERY OF THE FLATBASE DOILY, HOLDING THE FOLDED SMALLER DOILIES THERETO AT THE PERIPHERYOF THE FLAT BASE DOILY, EACH ELONGATED CLIP HAVING AN APERTURE AT ONEEND THEREOF AND AN ENLARGED HEAD AT THE OPPOSITE END THEREOF, THE HEADBEING OF A SIZE TO SNAP INTO THE APERTURE IN THE CLIP PROVIDING MATINGSNAP FASTENING MEANS AT THE RESPECTIVE ENDS OF THE CLIPS TO FORM ACONTINUOUS LOOP OF EACH CLIP TO HOLD ITS RESPECTIVE SMALLER DOILY TO THEFLAT BASE DOILY.